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They're getting Patrick Rothfuss to write at $3.25m, along with many smaller stretch goals along the way.

Considering that happened after I changed my signature to a Patrick Rothfuss one and Ubisoft even announced a new Might & Magic game just as I was playing one, I should check out if I somehow have developed realty warping powers along the way. Soon I will be invincible...

Considering that happened after I changed my signature to a Patrick Rothfuss one and Ubisoft even announced a new Might & Magic game just as I was playing one, I should check out if I somehow have developed realty warping powers along the way. Soon I will be invincible...

Speaking of pledges, I think it's simply because all Torment fans were expecting the Tides of Numenera. The news spread extremely quickly. Not a bad thing overall. On the other hand, it fails to attract new players with no experience with Torment.

Just backed it. I got some money from tutoring, and out it goes again. I was lucky enough to grab one of the $20 tiers who migrated to a higher pledge.

I have to say that Rothfuss blog post made me far less skeptical about the project (it was well-written and honest, and I think he'll add a lot to the dialogue). Combine that with MCA doing some thematic work and it looks like a winner.

Never read any of his work but he does have a rather nice turn of phrase; <i>"When I said “no” I felt like a kid who had to stay inside and practice the piano while all his friends got to go eat ice cream and have awesome sex on the moon."</i> made me chuckle.

Is it possible that something could have so many backers that very few people actually buy the released game, causing it to flop?

Depends on your definition of flop. Any sales the game make will be pure profit, and the developer will probably be kickstarting the next one.

I think failure might be better measured by how many people back and buy their next kickstarter combined. I imagine the kickstarter will decline either way, but it will be made up by funds from the sales of the game. An aggregate decline indicates some degree of failure, steady or growth indicate success.

Just backed it. I got some money from tutoring, and out it goes again. I was lucky enough to grab one of the $20 tiers who migrated to a higher pledge.

Might have been me! I'm not a particularly big fan of Rothfuss (like his writing style but his most recent book was awful imo) but I really hope they get enough funds to get Avellone on board (although I bet he gets involved somehow even if they don't reach 3.5m).

Is it possible that something could have so many backers that very few people actually buy the released game, causing it to flop?

Well if the Kickstarter funds the game it's not really a flop, it just doesn't make much profit. But there's nothing wrong with that. Most big games you see that are described as 'flops' generally make a loss, which KS games won't do. Of course, that's because they often need to sell a million to break even or something silly.

Also a lot of these higher-profile KS games have Steam distribution deals already. Steam's market is an order of magnitude bigger than anywhere else, so I'd expect those games to do very well. For games without a Steam deal though, it's perfectly possibly they'll reach their entire audience in the backing phase and barely sell any on launch.

Now that even Chris Avellone is on the board, the only thing that might ruin this game is communication problems, egos etc (Too many cooks spoil the broth).

Any kickstarter game that doesn't suffer from management errors, and where development progresses without major hiccups, will not make a loss. The production is already funded. After release, the game won't sell only if it's a bad game and there's negative word of mouth. Otherwise, there will be still some skeptical fans left that are finally convinced to buy it. Then also the influx of new gamers who only started caring about RPGs after Torment was funded.

Now that even Chris Avellone is on the board, the only thing that might ruin this game is communication problems, egos etc (Too many cooks spoil the broth).

Any kickstarter game that doesn't suffer from management errors, and where development progresses without major hiccups, will not make a loss. The production is already funded. After release, the game won't sell only if it's a bad game and there's negative word of mouth. Otherwise, there will be still some skeptical fans left that are finally convinced to buy it. Then also the influx of new gamers who only started caring about RPGs after Torment was funded.

I don't think the too many cooks thing is really a problem, since most TV and games writers work in groups. Even movie writers get people to punch up their script. So I'm not worried about that unless MCA is the reason the Mitsodas left Obsidian. They had problems with someone high up there, but I'd guess JE Sawyer first.

I think there might be a problem with the art. It doesn't look like InXile's art pipeline is nearly as robust as Obsidian's. I'm guessing this from InXile's call for user / spec art and infrequent updates on Wasteland 2 vs. Obsidian's frequent updates. Also, they weren't considering prebaked art first. I imagine they'll pull it out in the end. If not, some art is really easy things to mod.

And your second paragraph hit the nail on the head. Psychonauts gives Doublefine a nice little nest egg every quarter because it still sells. Every good game has an incredibly long tail. Digital Distribution is just changing the economics of selling and making games.

I doubt there's any real danger of things like Torment or the Obsidian game acquiring few sales upon release. With each project you're looking at <100,000 backers; one would imagine that a high-quality well-publicised RPG available on Steam would shift rather more than 100,000 copies.

They can theoretically make a bad game. InXile's Choplifter is uninteresting. And never forget Duke Nukem Forever (Not that I ever really liked Dn3D). I'm optimistic about the 3 new Unity engine RPGs, but accidents can happen.

I doubt there's any real danger of things like Torment or the Obsidian game acquiring few sales upon release. With each project you're looking at <100,000 backers; one would imagine that a high-quality well-publicised RPG available on Steam would shift rather more than 100,000 copies.

Hell, Jeff Vogel made more money putting his games on Steam at $10 then keeping them at $30 in his store. They're good games, but they're not exactly AA graphics or audio.

As you know, we’ve been working on Wasteland 2 in Unity and will be implementing Torment in Unity as well. Meanwhile, about 20 minutes away, Obsidian Entertainment is creating Project Eternity, also in Unity. Though there are major differences between our games, there are also similarities as all are RPGs built in the same engine. As many of you have suggested, it only makes sense that we collaborate where we can.

We are happy to announce that inXile and the great guys over at Obsidian have reached an agreement to share tools and technology when it makes sense. This will allow both companies to be more cost-effective on these projects, allowing your pledges to go further in terms of creating art, content, gameplay, and game polish. Vive le classic RPG revolution!

Also in the works: 2D pre-rendered graphics (with 3D characters/props, similar to Project Eternity) and another major city. The latter will probably be a stretch goal, though, one that's not even announced yet, so here's hoping they make it in the 7 days they have left.